Sir, – With regard to Barry Stokes's suggestion (October 1st) that the drive to "provide accommodation to those in need would move far more quickly" if the Government bought houses from landlords at current market price and also wrote off any shortfall with the mortgage provider, here's a better suggestion. The Government should do likewise for all those in negative equity who are struggling with mortgage repayments and offer lifetime tenancy to the incumbent families. This would attack the homelessness problem at one of its sources and is surely what the problem is screaming out for – more prevention and less speculation. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond, Sligo.